openpolitics.com

aides say that Mr. Trump, who often says, “I’m, like, a really smart person” in public, is driven by a need to prove his legitimacy as president to the many critics who deem him an unworthy victor forever undercut by Hillary Clinton’s three-million-vote win in the popular vote.

.. Second, fighting back — in this case, against Mr. Obama, the F.B.I. director and members of his own party who say his claim about phone taps is false — is an important part of the president’s self-image. The two most influential role models in Mr. Trump’s youth were men who preached the twin philosophies of relentless self-promotion and the waging of total war against anyone perceived as a threat.

Mr. Trump, according to one longtime adviser, is perpetually playing a soundtrack in his head consisting of advice from his father, Fred, a hard-driving real estate developer who laid the weight of the family’s success on his son’s shoulders. Mr. Trump’s other mentor was the caustic and conniving McCarthy-era lawyer Roy Cohn, who counseled Mr. Trump never to give in or concede error.

.. “He’s deeply, deeply insecure about how he’s perceived in the world, about whether or not he’s competent and deserves what he’s gotten,” he added. “There’s an unquenchable thirst for validation and love. That’s why he can never stay quiet, even when it would be wise strategically or emotionally to hold back.”

.. Mr. Trump’s now-infamous Twitter message on March 4 amounted to a Queens-intoned declaration that he would be no one’s victim. “How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process,”

.. he believes his behavior makes him look tougher, no matter what the press thinks.

 .. As a presidential candidate, he wanted to look dour, and vetoed any campaign imagery that so much as hinted at weakness, aides said. Which is why every self-selected snapshot — down to the squinty-eyed scowl attached to his Twitter account — features a tough-guy sourpuss. “Like Churchill,”

.. Third, diversion is an important motive. Mr. Trump was able to change the subject by attacking Mr. Obama

.. Finally, Mr. Trump hasn’t let up because no one can stop him.

.. aides describe a nearly paralytic inability to tell Mr. Trump that he has erred or gone too far on Twitter.

.. the two advisers who aren’t related to him but are powerful enough to try to change Mr. Trump’s behavior are mostly disinclined to do so.

.. One of the only other people whom Mr. Trump views as a peer is his top economic adviser, Gary Cohn, but he prefers to spend his capital on economic issues and climate change.

.. In a recent meeting in the Oval Office, Mr. Cohn was speaking when Mr. Trump interrupted him. “Let me finish,’’ Mr. Cohn interjected, according to a person with knowledge of the interaction.

Mr. Trump, unaccustomed to ceding the floor, let him make his point.